The History Show, 28 April 2013

This week France became the 14th country to approve a law allowing for same sex marriage and adoption rights. And of course, our own recent constitutional convention voted in favour of holding a referendum on this issue.

These marriages will be purely civil in nature as same sex unions are against the teachings of Christian churches.

So, how long ago did marriage became a sacred act and how have our attitudes to formal unions changed and progressed down through the centuries?

I’ll be talking to historian Gillian Kenny about the laws and practices surrounding marriage in medieval Ireland, and finding out, among other things, how you could divorce your husband if he got too fat.